Combined logistics command admits to weapons exports

The combined logistics command yesterday acknowledged that the military has started exporting conventional weapons but it remained tight-lipped about who the weapons have been sold to.

Lieutenant General Shih Jui (史銳), vice commander-in-chief of the command, confirmed that the logistics command was exporting weaponry.

Although the topic had been a subject of media speculation, the press conference was the first time that a military leader admitted in public that the military has been selling weapons to foreign countries

Shih made the confirmation yesterday at a meeting of the Legislature's Defense Committee, where he briefed lawmakers with the committee on the development of the combined logistics command.

He was responding to inquiries from KMT lawmaker Lin Nan-sheng (林南生) about whether the military has been exporting weapons produced by the combined logistics command to certain countries.

Shih was reluctant to go into details.

Lin, not satisfied with the answer, said according to his sources, the weaponry exports are worth around NT$70 million annually. Shih neither confirmed nor denied the figure.

The weapons the combined logistics command has produced for export are mainly rifles, an official with the command said.

The combined logistics command is responsible for the development and manufacture of conventional weapons ranging from handguns, rifles, mortars, rockets, towed guns and munitions of various kinds.

The command has previous weapons-export experience. The command had sold quite a number of rifles to certain countries in the Middle East years ago. However, the rifles did not reach the countries through legal channels.

In recent years, the command has found new clients in Africa though the buyers do not have strong purchasing power, sources said. It is unknown whether the military is still using unorthodox means to ship exported weapons out of the country.

Military armament bureau director Lieutenant General Tony Sun (孫韜玉), speaking at yesterday's committee meeting said the Ministry of National Defense will make it a policy to export weapons on a sizable scale.

"Our weaponry exports are still small in volume. The country's diplomatic isolation is one of the main reasons for the slow growth in this trade," Sun said.

Another reason that Sun failed to mention is that most of the weapons produced by the combined logistics command are actually copies of weapons from countries such as the US, Israel and South Africa. This means that if the military wants to export weapons copied from other countries, it must ask for permission from the original manufacturing countries.

But what's worse is that quite a few weapons of these kinds were not legally copied from abroad.

They are equivalent to pirated products which would cause a controversy if sold in the international weaponry market.